The Mystery of Samba
Vianna, Hermano. The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil. (1999).In "The Mystery of Samba", Vianna discusses samba in a different light than other authors have. He explains that although samba has become a symbol of their culture and something they are proud of, that it was not always that way. The author is not interested in where samba originated or about the history of its players, he says "I am thinking of samba's transformation into a 'national rhythm," when it was suddenly 'discovered' by the nation as a whole and adopted as a defining element of brasilidade or Brazilian identity" (Vianna 10). Around the 1920's and 1930's samba was viewed as music that was for lowlife people, it was not considered appropriate music for the elite. After the 1930's, however, great sambista players paved the way for the music to gain popularity. Also, carnivals were becoming very important events that displayed Brazilian nationality, and these carnivals were helping to make samba popular. The "mystery" is how did this music changed to being a source of pride for the people of Brazil? Technology was a huge factor in popularizing samba, an
Samba, as Vianna reveals, may not have had authenticity or history, that it was just made up. He points out that the invention of samba occurred due to many social groups and not just the people of the favellas. Their culture has praised the music that the black sambistas and the people of the favellas gave to Brazil. Slaves were generally treated well in Brazil while the opposite was true in America. d when radios began playing the music in the 1930's it started to catch on. The most interesting aspect of the book is the comparisons that can be made between what happened in Brazil during the slave period versus what happened in the United States. Great sambista players also caused the music to gain popularity, and paved the way for the outbreak of popular music in the 1960's. In other words, all the musicians and other people involved were not all working toward this overall goal. Vianna goes on to describe the exact way in which samba became such a national symbol. The author tells this story wonderfully, because through talking about the history of samba he sheds light on what the society was really like and why they developed this popular culture and music. Peter Fry gave an interesting viewpoint as to why samba, music of the lower classes, was chosen as something to be a national symbol. Fry says that "the conversion of ethnic symbols into national symbols masks a situation of racial domination and makes it especially difficult to uncover" (Vianna 13). In the writing of this book the author is not trying to take away from the contributions of the black sambistas, however. So it seems that Brazil has had an easier time dealing with different races and mixed races than America.
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